Judge drops EMS medics from Hampton suit

The EMS medics accused of threatening a pregnant basketball coach during her arrest were dismissed Wednesday from the $30 million Hampton lawsuit.

When informed late Wednesday of the development, University Medical Center President Jim Courtney said he was pleased.

''Obviously we feel good about it,'' Courtney said. ''We never felt like our paramedic did anything wrong.''

Hampton University women's basketball coach Patricia Bibbs, her husband, Ezell, and former assistant coach Vanetta Kelso named ''unknown employees of the Emergency Medical Services at University Medical Center'' when they sued over their arrests in Lubbock last year. The suit also named police officers and the city of Lubbock.

Kelso, who was pregnant, claimed police ignored her pleas for help when she started vomiting during her arrest and that an EMS worker threatened to stuff a towel in her mouth.

On Aug. 19, federal Judge Sam Cummings noted that the EMS medics were never served with the lawsuit and ordered the plaintiffs to do so by Wednesday. When the plaintiffs failed to comply, the judge dismissed the medics from the case.

According to documents filed Tuesday by the accused officers, Sgt. Roger Hearron immediately called for an ambulance when he saw that Kelso was ill.

Officer David Houser did not observe any medical problems or realize Kelso was pregnant before she was handcuffed and detained in a police car, he wrote in an affidavit.

''After we got Ms. Kelso out of the car, it appeared to me that Ms. Kelso tried to vomit and spit on me and the EMS attendant,'' Houser wrote. ''She did vomit on the EMS attendant's shoes.''

UMC conducted an internal investigation of the allegations but never received an official complaint. The plaintiffs never contacted the hospital after filing the lawsuit, Courtney said.

Medical records would contain information about the medics' identities, Courtney said, but, to his knowledge, Kelso and her attorneys did not request the records.

The city of Lubbock; Police Chief Ken Walker; Houser, Hearron and officers Keith Jobe and Brian McNeill remain parties in the lawsuit. Walker and the officers filed motions Tuesday asking Cummings to dismiss them from the case.

The officers argue they should be immune from civil actions because they acted in good faith and within their authority as peace officers.

Cummings granted a motion to dismiss Detective Mike Overland from the case based on the same argument. The judge considered Overland's arguments without a response from the plaintiffs because they missed a filing deadline.

Elizabeth Langton can be contacted at 766-8795 or blangton@lubbockonline.com